Cute words in portuguese Part 6 - tá ligado?

One of the acid tests of mastering a foreign language is your level of understanding of local slang. In most cases, especially if learning through traditional classroom methods, slang tends to be absorbed after formal language.

And yet, it is often the most interesting part. One of my favourite street expressions in Brazilian Portuguese, is "tá ligado?".

It is in fact a contraction of "você esta ligado?" which literally means "Are you switched on?" which in turn means "Do you understand?" or " Are you listening?"

It's roughly equivalent do the slang phrase "know what I mean?" in the UK or perhaps even the famous "innit?" and like its English counterparts it's best said not written.

Tá ligado?

"Tá ligado", often overused in Hip Hop circles

More cute words in Portuguese here

Cute Words in Portuguese Part 4

 A hyper-distorted portuguese anglicism AKA a cheeseburger

There are a number of anglicisms which have been adopted and integrated into Brazilian Portuguese. A lot of them have been distorted or morphed along the way which makes for some interesting and amusing reading for those lucky enough to be bilingual.

Here are some examples:

"Picape" (pick-up truck).
"Bife" (whiche derives from "beef" but actually is closer to "steak" in meaning)

and my personal favourite "X-burger"

The letter "x", in Brazilian Portuguese makes a "ch" sound and is spelt "xis"  So a cheeseburger is written X-burger and as "tudo" is "all" you can be sure that if you order a X-tudo you will get a mighty big burger as in the menu below:

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See also:

Cute words in Portuguese Part 3
Cute words in Portuguese Part 2
Cute words in Portuguese Part 1

Cute Words in Brazilian Portuguese Part 3

"Para inglês ver" means for the English, or Englishman to see and it's used, quite frequently, in Brazilian Portuguese to describe something that is just for show. I found this quite a funny expression and was curious to find out if there was an interesting etymology behind it, and indeed there is:

Back in 1831 the Brazilian goverment came under pressure from England to abolish slavery. At the time England exerted influence on Brazil due to manufacturing, trade and financial dependence. Bowing to the pressure then, a new law was introduced which would severly fine importers of slaves and which made slaves free upon arrival on Brazilian shores. 

However most people including the deputies in parliament did not believe the law was enforceable and didn't think it would be effective and it would be only for the English, or Englishman to see. Therein was born the expression para o inglês ver.

In fact as predicted Brazilian slavery continued despite the change and until a new law was passed some twenty years later in 1852. 

  
See other cute words entries here:

Cute Words in Brazilian Portuguese Part 2

Here are three of my new favourite words each which caught me unaware when I first heard them, I'm sure fellow expats in Brazil will connect with these:



The Number 6
Six is pretty cool because it has 2 names: "seis" which is similar to Spanish and "meia" which means "half" or "sock". At first it can get pretty confusing when you're not used to it. If you want to say, you want six coffees you would order "seis cafés" which is fine but if you have a six in your phone number (e.g. 65726321 you would effectively say: sock five seven two sock three two one or half five seven two half three two one!

Then again if you wanted to meet at 06:30 you would say "seis e meia" but then "meia" would be half not sock or six which is "seis" Get it?

The SMS
Maybe it's just me but if you have a visual mind you will love this one too. SMS just like six has multiple names too. And one of the most common is "torpedo" which is a general term for either SMS or MMS. I just love the idea of sending someone a torpedo although the first time my operator told me they were about to send me a torpedo I did find it mildly troubling :)

If you want to try you can fire away for free here: http://torpedogratis.net

The Last Drink
Anytime I am with a Brazilian and he/she is about to go home they always convince themselves to have on more drink which inevitably turns out not to be the last drink at all because they get stuck in a loop and again convince themselve to have a last drink. I guess this must be quite common because the last drink even has a name of it´s own which is "saideira".

See also: Cute Words in Brazilian Portuguese Part 1

Cute Words in Brazilian Portuguese Part I

As my command, if you permit me such a verb, of Brazilian Portuguese improves I am starting to enjoy the subtleties and nuances of the language. One of the fun things about Brazilian Portuguese versus Portuguese Portuguese is the very direct and pragmatic way in which the language is adapted. New words are created at ease with little worry about the fit with traditional Portuguese resulting in very cute combo words such as the ones below:

Revista = Magazine SO Revistaria = Kiosk/Newsagents

Similarly Bicicleta = bicycle SO Bicletario = Bikeshed

Absorver = to absorb SO Absorvente  = Sanitary Towel

Café = coffee, Manha = morning SO Café da Manha = Breakfast

My favourite: Moça = girl SO Aeromoça = Stewardess! Brilliant! 

ps. Personally, I am all in favour of making new words even if the purists say the existing ones suffice. Language is alive and kicking and should be constantly evolving. More cute words to come, I´m off for my morningcoffee..